USS Ward (DD-139)

USS Ward (DD-139) was a US Navy destroyer that was launched on 1 June 1918 and saw action in World War II. The destroyer was named for James H. Ward, the first US Navy officer to die in battle during the American Civil War, and it first saw action under Captain William W. Outerbridge during the Attack on Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941. The ship sunk a Japanese midget submarine as it attempted to infiltrate Pearl Harbor, the first shots fired by the United States during the war. The USS Ward took part in the amphibious invasions in the Pacific Ocean in the following years, and it was sunk by a kamikaze during the fighting in the Philippines on 7 December 1944, three years to the day after it fired the first American shots of the war.